Luggage-rack



C. F. BLAKE.

LUGGAGE RACK.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 24, 1919- 1,349,938. at nted Aug. 17, 1920.

2 SHEETSSHEE] I.

W H van) l INVENTOR C. F. BLAKE.

\LUGGAGE RACK.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 24,1919.

1,349, 988. Patented Aug. 17, 1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT omce.

LUGGAGE-RACK.

Specification of Letters Patent. Pate t d A 17 1920.

Application filed September 24, 1919. Serial No. 326,077.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLINTON F. BLAKE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Portland, county of Multnomah, -State of Oregon, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Luggage-Racks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to luggage racks 111 general, and particularly to such racks as are adapted to be secured to the running boards of automobiles for the purpose of holding luggage thereon, and is so 1llustrated in the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this application for Letters Patent.

The object of my invention is to provide a luggage rack of extremely simple construction and few parts, of great strength, and of easy and quick adjustabllity and attachment to the running board.

I accomplish the above object by means of the construction illustrated in said drawings, like characters indicating like parts throughout the several v1ews thereof, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective viewof an automobile with my invention in place thereon. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of my device.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the clamp used to secure my device to the running board.

Fig. 1 is an end elevation of the subject matter of Fig. 3. I

Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are perspective views of details of the clamp.

In general my device consists of an extensible member in the form of the well known lazytong, certain members thereof being of extra strength, a clamp pivotally secured upon the end of each of said extra strength members by suitable journals upon said clamp, and means to permanently adjust said clamps to the thickness of the running board.

The rack is made of thin strips of metal 10 diagonally disposed (when the rack is extended for use), and each pivotally connected to the adjacent strip.

To give the greatest strength to the rack it is desirable to support the same at certain of the uppermost and also certain of the lowermost points thereof, and in order to make the rack as light as possible. said supporting must be accomplished with the least material possible. I accomplish this by constructing certain of the diagonal members of the rack of material considerably heavier than the members 10, as shown at 11, said members 11 being pivotally con nected to the adjacent members 10, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

To secure the rack to the running board of the automobile I provide clamps upon the lower ends of each of the members 11, and as the members 11 assume various angles as the rack is more or less extended, these clamps are necessarily pivotally attached to their respective members 11.

In order to render the rack of great stiffness transversely thereof, I turn the lower end of each of members 11 normal thereto, as shown in Fig. 3, thus forming a foot 11 which may be journaled within the clamp, and ,which foot will form a sufficiently long lever arm to render the vrack transversely secure.

It is necessary to have the clamp adjustable to running boards of various thicknesses, and also it is desirable to have the clamp quickly and easily attachable to the running board, and this'I accomplish as follows.

The clamping jaws are formed of two pieces, an upper Tshapedj aw 12 and a lower L-shaped jaw 13, shown in detail in Figs. 5 and 6 respectively, adapted to contact with the running board above and below the same respectively. To make said jaws adjustable to various thicknesses of running boards I provide the upper jaw 12 with two bolt holes 14, and the lower jaw 13 with a slot in one arm thereof adapted to register with bolt holes 14 in jaw 12, said jaws being secured together by bolts 17 passing through said bolt holes and said slot, thereby rendering the jaws adjustable to running boards of various thicknesses by sliding the bolts 17 within slot 16 until the distance between the jaws is just suflicient to allow the running board to pass therebetween.

Having thus adjusted the jaws to the running board thickness, it is necessary to provide means to clamp the same upon the running board, and I accomplish this by pivoting an eccentric clip 18 upon upper jaw 12 in such a manner that rotation of the clip will cause the eccentric portion 18 thereof to exert pressure upon the upper surface of the running board, and thereby securely clamp the same between said eccentric portion of the clip 18 and the lower jaw 13.

To prevent the clip 18 from wearing slots in the upper surface of the running board I provide a wearing strip therefor, inthe form of a thin strip of metal ada )ted to lie between said clip 18 and the running board, and to receive the pressure of the clip there upon. said strip 19 being thin enough to yield under the pressure of the clip and thereby clamp the running board, said strip 19 being provided with an arm 20 normal thereto adapted to be secured, as by rivets, to the upper jaw 12, as shown 1n Fig. 3.

By means of this construction. of the cl amp, the jaws thereof may be permanently adjusted to the thickness of the running board by means of the bolts 17, and thereafter it is only necessary to slip the jaws in place upon the running board and press downward upon the respective clips 18, to securely attach the rack to the running board.

To pivotally mount the above described clamping device upon the ends of the respective members 11 I provide the upper jaw 12 with an arm 12 normally turned upon the end thereof and having therein an orifice 12 adapted to form a bearing for the end of the foot 11 of the member 11, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5. At the opposite end of foot 11 I provide a semicircular U shaped clip 21, shown in detail in Fig. 7, having bolt holes therein adapted to register with bolt holes 14 in upper jaw 12, and to receive bolts 17 therein, as shown in Figs. 3 and 1, said clip encompassing the foot 11 and forming a bearing therefor when in place. The clamp is held in place by slightly heading over the end of the foot ll after passing the same through the orifice 12".

My device may be made of any size and constructed of any materials deemed convenient and suitable for a device of this character, and while I have illustrated and described a form of construction and arrangement of parts found desirable in materializing my invention, I wish to include in this application for Letters Patent all clam ing device secured to one of said jaws, and iiearings upon the other of said jaws; in combination with a rack of lazy tong con. struction consisting of a plurality of fiat bars diagonally disposed, a plurality of round bars diagonally disposed, feet upon each of said round bars normal thereto and adapted to be mounted within said bearings of said clamps.

2. In a luggage rack, a plurality of adjustable clamps each consisting of a pair of jaws, means to adjust the distance between said jaws, a clamping device upon one of said jaws, and bearings upon the other of said jaws; in combination with inclined members having normally turned feet mounted within the said bearings of the respectively adjacent clamp, and a rack of lazy tong construction, certain uppermost and lowermost pivotal points of said rack being connected to the respective one of said inclined members.

3. In a luggage rack, an L shaped jaw member having a slot in the vertical leg thereon; a T shaped jaw member having.

orifices in the vertical part thereof; bolts adapted to pass through said orifices and said slot to secure said jaw members together in any desired relative adjustment; a clamping device upon said T shaped jaw member; bearings upon said T shaped jaw member; a diagonally disposed supporting member; a foot turned normal to said supporting member upon the lower end thereof and adapted to be mounted within said bearings; and an extensible rack pivotally connected to said supporting member.

4. In a luggage rack, a pair of relatively adjustable jaws; a clamping device upon one of said jaws; journals upon each end of one of said jaws; a diagonal supporting member; an elongated foot turned normal to said supporting member upon the lower end thereof and mounted within said bearings; and an extensible rack supported upon said supporting member.

5. In a luggage rack, 21. pair of relatively adjustable jaws, one of said jaws having a vertically disposed slot therein and the other of said jaws having two orifices there in each registering with said slot; a U shaped clip having two orifices therein registering with said orifices in said jaw; bolts adapted to pass through both their respective orifices in said clip, their respective orifices in said jaw, and through said slot, thereby securing said jaws and said clip together; a bearing upon the extremity of the jaw having thereon said orifices; a clamping device upon one of said jaws; a. diagonally disposed round bar; a foot turned normally upon the lower end of said bar and mounted in said clip and said bearing; and an extensible rack secured to said round bar.

6. in a luggage rack, a plurality of clamps each consisting of a pair of relatively adjustable jaws, a clamping device upon one of said jaws, andbearlng members spaced apart upon the other of said jaws; in combination with a lazy tong frame having certain members thereof extended below said frame and the lower ends of said extended members turned normal thereto and mounted within said bearings.

In witness whereof I claim the foregoing as my own I hereunto aflix my signature at Portland, county of Multnomah, State of Oregon, this 17th day of Sept., 1919.

CLINTON F. BLAKE. 

